Adalah to AG: Investigate police violations of rules of engagement leading to killing and injury of Palestinians

On 13 October 2015, Adalah sent an urgent letter to the Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, demanding that he immediately order an investigation into the killing and injury of Palestinians in violation of the rules of engagement by the Israeli police. Adalah further demanded that the AG order the police forces to immediately cease the use of firearms in violation of the law. Adalah's requests come in response to a highly publicized series of cases in which videos show how the police opened fire on Palestinians, pursuing “shoot-to-kill” actions in circumstances that appear not to have posed an imminent danger to them or to others.

Adalah Attorney Muna Haddad cited three cases in her letter to the AG, in which the police shot at Palestinians in violation of the rules of engagement.

• On 4 October 2015, 19-year-old Fadi Alloun, suspected of stabbing an individual, was shot dead by police in Jerusalem. From the video, it appears that Mr. Alloun posed no life-threatening danger to bystanders or to the police when he was fatally shot. (See the video here, and Adalah’s press release about the police refusal to order an autopsy in this case)
• On 9 October 2015, the police shot at 30-year-old Basaraa Abad, a mother of three from Nazareth, at the central bus station in Afula. The video indicates that the police, soldiers and security guards surrounded her upon suspicion that she was carrying a knife, and shot at her, causing extensive injuries, as she stood motionless in front of them. (See the video here)
• On 12 October 2015, the police shot and seriously injured 15-year-old boy in Pisgat Zeev after he attacked two people with a knife. After the shooting, police and medical personnel left him bleeding on the road without providing any medical treatment, while many people stood around and cursed the boy and called on the police to shoot him. (See video)

Attorney Haddad argued in the letter that the video evidence in these cases indicate that the police acted in a manner contrary to the order that fatal fire should be used only, "as a last resort, and only in circumstances where there is a sensible relationship between the degree of danger arising from the use of weapons, and the outcome they are trying to prevent." Adalah argued that pursuant to police orders, lethal force will only be used by the police if, "there is a real fear of immediate harm to life or physical integrity of a police officer or to others, and there is no other way to prevent the harm."

Adalah further stressed regarding the recent statements of Israeli politicians and police officers concerning these events: "The above [request for an investigation] becomes even more important in light of the statements by politicians and police officials praising the actions by the police and calling on them to shoot and kill, in complete contravention of the rules of engagement set forth in detail above [in the letter]."